Speakers
Description
Recent debates on transatlantic security cooperation widely assume that renewed political tensions -- most notably driven by the Trump II administration -- have undermined cooperation between NATO and the European Union. Such claims typically rest on assessments of strategic alignment at the political level. This paper argues that these assessments risk running ahead of what is currently known about cooperation as it is organised and practiced. Whether NATO–EU cooperation actually deteriorates under geopolitical strain depends not only on shifts in grand strategy, but also on the compatibility of the organisational and cultural interfaces through which cooperation is enacted. Drawing on inter-organisational relations, organisational theory, and international practice theory, the paper develops a framework that distinguishes three analytically separable but empirically interacting dimensions of cooperation: strategic alignment, structural compatibility, and cultural coherence. Rather than presuming either decline or resilience, the framework treats political disruption as a stress test that reshapes relationships among these dimensions. It generates observable expectations about how political contestation, procedural frictions, and breakdowns in trust and shared routines shape cooperation outcomes under geopolitical strain. The paper is primarily conceptual and framework-building. It uses the framework to take stock of NATO–EU cooperation across three areas central to societal security -- critical infrastructure protection, hybrid threats, and emergency preparedness -- laying the conceptual groundwork for a broader empirical research agenda on inter-organisational cooperation under conditions of geopolitical uncertainty.
| If you are submitting an Open Panel proposal, have you included all four abstracts in attachment? | No, I am submitting a Closed Panel abstract |
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| Would you like to be considered for travel funding through the NetSec COST Action? | No |
| Are you a member of the NetSec Management Committee? | No |
| What discipline or branch of humanities or social sciences do you identify yourself with? | International Relations |
| Which of the following best describes your stage of the career? | Full Professor |
| In which country is your home institution? | Sweden |
| What is your gender? | Male |